The goal of English 101, an academic course grounded in inquiry and rhetoric, is to familiarize students with the kind of writing they will have to do in college, broadly referred to as academic writing. While characteristics of academic writing vary across university disciplines, successful academic writing largely relies on using inquiry and rhetoric to engage in a scholarly conversation. These three concerns—inquiry, rhetoric, and conversation—are the three major concerns of English 101. To start the course, students first inquire: they determine what is known—and credible—about a topic or issue by conducting research to assess the conversation. As students engage in this inquiry, they gain expertise in rhetoric: the art of knowledge-making and persuasion. By analyzing and practicing rhetorical strategies, students learn how to use writing to make sense of their inquiries, consider alternate perspectives, engage audiences, and craft persuasive arguments they believe their audiences should consider. The ultimate work of the course is for students to learn how to participate thoughtfully, critically, and persuasively in academic conversations.